This application is based on applications Nos. H9-328024, H9-340255, and H9-340258 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus for displaying image data stored in image recording media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the image display apparatus, methods of extracting a desired image file from an image recording medium in which a plurality of image files are stored include a method in which key information is input to extract a desired image file. In this method, it is necessary for each image file to be associated with key information (code information).
Extraction of a desired image can be performed not only by inputting key information but also by using a browsing function. The browsing function is a function of displaying images frame by frame on a display screen. That is, by stopping or discontinuing browsing when a desired image is displayed, a desired image file can be extracted by the operator""s visual judgment.
However, in the method to input key information to extract a desired image file, it is necessary to perform key information systematization and key information assignment, which requires great labor. Particularly, for image data taken by digital cameras, it is necessary to assign (input) key information at the time of photographing. This work is generally complicated, and the user misses the right moment to take a picture if his or her attention is directed to key information assignment.
In the method to use the browsing function to extract a desired image, when a desired image is extracted from several tens of frames of image data, this method is practical and the desired image is surely extracted. However, when the number of frames of image data from which a desired image is extracted is large, this method is not practical because browsing takes a long time. Particularly, in the case of a digital camera, the user tends to take a large number of pictures compared to the case of a silver halide film camera because development, printing and enlargement (DPE) are unnecessary. Therefore, the number of image data tends to be large.
In view of the above-described problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an image display apparatus in which it is unnecessary to assign key information and a desired image can be surely extracted in a short time even when the number of image data is great.
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an image display apparatus is provided with: a display for displaying image data; and a controller having a first display mode in which, from an image recording medium on which a plurality of image files each containing low-resolution image data and high-resolution image data are recorded, the low-resolution image data of each of the image files is displayed successively on the display.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for displaying image data from an image recording medium on which a plurality of image files each containing low-resolution image data and high-resolution image data are recorded, includes the step of: successively displaying the low-resolution image data of each of the image files.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an image display apparatus is provided with: a display for displaying image data; and a controller having a display mode in which, from an image recording medium on which a plurality of image files each containing image data are recorded, only a predetermined portion of the image data of each of the image files is displayed on the display.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, an image display apparatus is provided with: a display for displaying image data; and a controller having a display mode in which, from an image recording medium on which a plurality of image files each containing image data are recorded, the image data of each of the image files is displayed on the display after being thinned down.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, an image display apparatus is provided with: a display for displaying image data; and a controller having a first display mode in which, from an image recording medium on which a plurality of image files each containing image data and tag information are recorded, the image data of each of particular ones of the image files that are selected according to the tag information is displayed successively on the display.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, an image display apparatus is provided with: a display for displaying image data; a retainer for retaining the image data; and a controller that operates such that image data of a number n of image files recorded in compressed form on an image recording medium is expanded so as to be retained in the retainer, and that the image data retained in the retainer is then displayed successively on the display.